The Venture Hacks Bible

The Venture Hacks Bible......Page 1
TABLE OF CONTENTS......Page 3
March 2007......Page 21
Term Sheet Hacks: Get a Great Deal......Page 22
Create a board that reflects the ownership of the company......Page 27
Make a new board seat for a new CEO......Page 32
April 2007......Page 37
Term Sheet Hacks: Get a Great Deal......Page 38
Create a board that reflects the ownership of the company......Page 43
Make a new board seat for a new CEO......Page 49
Reactions to Venture Hacks......Page 54
The Option Pool Shuffle: Beat the game and raise your valuation......Page 56
Focus on your share price, not your valuation......Page 63
Get vested for time served......Page 66
Accelerate your vesting upon termination......Page 70
Accelerate your vesting upon a sale......Page 77
We have the best readers in the world......Page 84
Supersize your vesting with microhacks......Page 88
Term Sheet Hacks: The Cheat Sheet......Page 92
May 2007......Page 93
Should you raise debt or equity?......Page 94
Venture Hacks: The Mug......Page 99
Comment of the Week: Cherry Edition......Page 102
Keep your options open if you raise debt......Page 108
[Hack] The benefits of debt vs. equity in a seed round......Page 119
[Hack] Make your debt attractive to investors......Page 125
[Comments] The Threaded Edition......Page 131
[Hack] Supersize your debt with these microhacks......Page 135
June 2007......Page 139
Great fund-raising advice from Dharmesh Shah......Page 140
Launch: Venture Hacks Office Hours......Page 143
Office Hours: Technical Error Edition......Page 146
Ask VH: What are Supra Pro-Rata Rights?......Page 152
Hack: Build your own cap table......Page 155
We’re Hiring: One Man Developer Army......Page 158
July 2007......Page 161
A Few Hacks from our Personal Blogs......Page 162
Thoughts on ‘The Equity Equation’......Page 165
August 2007......Page 169
Hack: Understand why investors want protective provisions......Page 170
Why investors don’t always do the right thing......Page 176
Thoughts on Adam Smith’s Letter to Graduating Y Combinator Companies......Page 179
September 2007......Page 187
Hack: Create a market for your shares......Page 188
Pop Quiz: How is raising money like buying a car?......Page 193
October 2007......Page 195
Ask Venture Hacks: What’s the biggest mistake entrepreneurs make?......Page 196
Ask VH: Is the VC Industry Doomed?......Page 198
Ask VH: Sell my company or raise capital?......Page 201
Ask VH: Raise money from VCs or angels?......Page 204
M&A Hacks......Page 207
Ask Venture Hacks......Page 210
Ask VH: What’s dumb money?......Page 212
November 2007......Page 217
What should I send investors? Part 1: The Elevator Pitch.......Page 218
What should I send investors? Part 2: Deck.......Page 223
What should I send investors? Part 3: Business Plans, NDAs, and Traction.......Page 229
Grockit’s founder on raising money......Page 233
Grockit’s founder on raising money......Page 235
Topix founder on Spice Girls VC......Page 237
Topix founder on Spice Girls VC......Page 240
How much diligence should we do before signing a term sheet?......Page 243
How much diligence should we do before signing a term sheet?......Page 248
December 2007......Page 253
Should I shop around?......Page 254
Should I shop around?......Page 259
Should I pay my investor’s legal fees?......Page 264
Should I pay my investor’s legal fees?......Page 269
Is it safe to send my deck to investors?......Page 274
Is it safe to send my deck to investors?......Page 278
Venture Hacks on Twitter......Page 282
Venture Hacks on Twitter......Page 284
Should I give my lawyers equity?......Page 286
Should I give my lawyers equity?......Page 290
January 2008......Page 295
The top 3 hacks of the year......Page 296
The top 3 hacks of the year......Page 299
Terminating Cisco’s founders......Page 302
Terminating Cisco’s founders......Page 305
How well do investors recruit?......Page 308
Tom Perkins of KPCB Interviewed......Page 311
How do I find a lead investor? Part 1.......Page 313
How do I find a lead investor? Part 2.......Page 319
How do I find a lead investor? Part 3.......Page 324
Why do investors want control?......Page 328
February 2008......Page 333
Everything you ever wanted to know about advisors: Part 1.......Page 334
T-Shirts for VCs......Page 338
The latest quotes from our Twitter feed......Page 342
Everything you ever wanted to know about advisors: Part 2.......Page 345
The latest comments on Venture Hacks: Founder Edition......Page 352
March 2008......Page 359
Half-Assed Startup: How do I start my company and keep my day job?......Page 360
Getting Recommended......Page 366
John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins on building businesses......Page 374
Marc Andreessen on Charlie Munger on cognitive bias......Page 378
Reactions to Recommended......Page 383
April 2008......Page 387
Missionaries, not mercenaries......Page 388
Venture Hacks Tweets: Kleiner edition......Page 390
How much money should we raise?......Page 394
Former VC helps entrepreneurs raise money.......Page 400
New investors on Venture Hacks......Page 403
How do we set the valuation for a seed round?......Page 406
VH Twitters: Ball Punching Edition......Page 411
May 2008......Page 413
Lijit’s CEO on raising money from angels.......Page 414
High Concept Pitches for Startups......Page 417
From Incoherent to High Concept Pitch......Page 421
O’Reilly Startup Camp......Page 423
Free ideas. Just add execution.......Page 425
Hollywood Pitch: Feedburner for iPhones......Page 428
June 2008......Page 431
Control is a one way street......Page 432
Mike Cassidy: Speed as THE primary business strategy......Page 437
VH Twitters: “It’s never been done before” Edition......Page 439
Lawyers are referees, not coaches......Page 441
A Hollywood for Startups......Page 444
Don’t follow our advice......Page 445
Daddy, what’s a soft circle?......Page 447
Do you know any idea investors?......Page 449
Ideas need not apply......Page 452
The Rocket Ship investment model......Page 454
The Monk and the Riddle......Page 456
July 2008......Page 461
Books for Entrepreneurs: Bargaining for Advantage......Page 462
I have a job offer at a startup, am I getting a good deal? Part 1.......Page 466
I have a job offer at a startup, am I getting a good deal? Part 2.......Page 471
September 2008......Page 475
VH Twitters: Extreme Edition......Page 476
Our top 10 term sheet hacks......Page 479
How common is accelerated vesting on change in control?......Page 481
(Not so) Scary terms in offer letters.......Page 484
What do investors look for in a startup?......Page 488
What does an employee offer letter look like?......Page 491
Who makes the best introductions to investors?......Page 497
October 2008......Page 501
Elevator Pitches avec Bullets......Page 503
The Laws of Productivity......Page 507
Startup Lessons Learned......Page 509
Get Venture Hacks via email......Page 512
What should I do before signing a term sheet?......Page 513
VH Twitters: Self Loving Edition......Page 515
Sequoia’s advice is good advice anytime......Page 518
Financings are blowing up......Page 522
“They blew an opportunity to remain optimistic”......Page 524
Vinod Khosla: “Big opportunities are changing the structure of society.”......Page 525
“If you want to improve your chances”......Page 528
How do I lay people off?......Page 529
How Steve Jobs pitches a startup......Page 534
Lean startups find their moment......Page 535
How should I format my deck?......Page 540
A quick and dirty guide to starting up......Page 541
How to deal with Machiavellian investors......Page 543
VH Twitters: Persistence Edition......Page 545
Why startup pitches fail......Page 547
November 2008......Page 553
Coming Soon: Pitching Hacks, The Book......Page 554
Books for Entrepreneurs: Agile Software Development......Page 558
How to develop your customers like you develop your product......Page 563
“Agile methods and startup companies… go perfectly together.”......Page 566
Our Sponsor: Charles River Ventures......Page 568
VH Twitters: “Write a blog, not a business plan.”......Page 571
Updated: Our top 10 term sheet hacks......Page 574
Updated: A quick and dirty guide to starting up......Page 575
Pivotal Tracker: The iPod of project management software......Page 577
Five whys, Part 1: The startup immune system......Page 582
“It ain’t about right, it’s about money.”......Page 587
Five whys, Part 2: How to get started......Page 588
Five whys, Part 3: Legacy startups......Page 593
The OODA Loop: Playing chess with half the pieces......Page 596
Robert Heinlein: “Specialization is for insects”......Page 600
December 2008......Page 603
Books for Entrepreneurs: Extreme Programming Explained......Page 604
Sponsor: Charles River Ventures......Page 608
Raising money is a black swan......Page 610
How to moderate (and write) comments......Page 616
Our new archives......Page 619
Steve Jobs: “Apple is only its ideas”......Page 622
Extraordinary Organizations: $170M company with no titles except “plant” manager......Page 625
January 2009......Page 629
My visit to American Apparel......Page 630
We don’t pay you to work here......Page 640
The spontaneous optimism that drives startups......Page 645
The Human Equation: How to organize people for profit......Page 647
Lowering the water level: Do bad economies spur innovation?......Page 650
Pitching Hacks is almost here / Calling all testers......Page 653
(A bit of) Decision-making for startups......Page 654
Pitching Hacks: Beta test update......Page 657
Paul Buchheit: “Consider spending less time talking, and more time prototyping”......Page 660
February 2009......Page 665
How IMVU learned its way to $10M a year......Page 666
Launch: Pitching Hacks, The Book......Page 668
March 2009......Page 671
Take a course from the king of customer development......Page 672
Mike Maples: “My opinion is interesting, but irrelevant.”......Page 675
The Venture Hacks Podcast......Page 681
How to be an angel investor, Part 2......Page 683
Don’t launch? But the New York Times is on the phone!......Page 702
The king of customer development starts a blog (and tweets too)......Page 707
What is the minimum viable product?......Page 710
Customer Development, Classes 3 and 4......Page 725
Opening board meetings to the entire company......Page 727
Sell it before you build it......Page 741
April 2009......Page 743
It’s very easy to underprice your product......Page 744
How we encourage word of mouth for Pitching Hacks......Page 750
We teach entrepreneurship like every vertical market has the same set of rules......Page 752
The Startup MBA......Page 761
Pitching Hacks at Stanford......Page 763
Customer Development, Class 5: IMVU......Page 764
How to close a term sheet quickly......Page 765
May 2009......Page 771
Hey, have you heard of Twitter?......Page 772
September 2009......Page 777
Steve Jobs does customer development......Page 778
Steve Jobs does customer development: No new features......Page 782
How do I refine my product’s positioning?......Page 785
Twitter updates......Page 788
Term sheet tune-up......Page 790
New York Meetup......Page 794
Customer Development Patterns......Page 796
October 2009......Page 799
New York Meetup was awesome......Page 800
Get drunk with VCs and help charity......Page 805
Take our Twitter Survey......Page 807
Put your tweets on your blog......Page 809
“Your next feature won’t save you”......Page 812
“Real wealth creation will take founding, seniority, or staggeringly large exits.”......Page 814
10 examples of minimum viable products......Page 817
The problem with VC motivation......Page 820
Notes from Startup School 2009......Page 825
Our first online workshop: How to pitch investors......Page 829
November 2009......Page 833
Customer development by the book......Page 834
Lean startups aren’t Cheap Startups......Page 838
Best of the startup blogs......Page 845
Startup Boy is back......Page 847
The long tail of VC blogs......Page 849
The long tail of VC twitterers......Page 851
How to pick a co-founder......Page 853
Extrapolating computing......Page 858
The sultans of startup marketing......Page 860
The ignorant VC......Page 865
Weekend reading......Page 869
3 customer development case studies......Page 871
Get the best of the startup blogs......Page 876
Venture Hacks Bookstore......Page 878
How to share secrets in a negotiation......Page 880
Thanking our supporters......Page 886
December 2009......Page 889
Morale, distribution, profit, and games......Page 891
Just Say No: VC terms that can really hurt......Page 892
Home improvement......Page 896
Sometimes the feature is the product......Page 900
Startup News, the first 2 weeks......Page 905
10 skills I look for before writing a check......Page 909
Just Say No: VC terms that can really hurt (Part 2)......Page 916
Pitching Hacks, in paperback......Page 920
How to bring a product to market / A very rare interview with Sean Ellis......Page 921
How to measure product/market fit with survey.io......Page 950
Take guidance from VCs, not orders......Page 966
“Angel investors are becoming the dominant force in consumer internet venture capital”......Page 969
Marketing science Q&A with Sean Ellis......Page 972
“NDAs up the wazoo”......Page 977
Get our interviews on the Venture Hacks Podcast......Page 979
When the cost of customer acquisition exceeds your ability to monetize them......Page 981
The Arrogant VC: Why VCs are disliked by entrepreneurs......Page 983
Our top 10 posts of 2009 — dominated by customer development......Page 988
Chris Dixon: How much seed money should I raise?......Page 990
The Billy Mays method of picking startups......Page 992
January 2010......Page 995
The Arrogant VC: Why VCs are disliked by entrepreneurs, Part 2......Page 997
How to re-negotiate with your customers — and not lose a single one......Page 1003
Emotions at work......Page 1005
10 skills I look for before writing a check, Part 2: Perspiration and Appetite for Risk......Page 1007
5 New Year’s resolutions for closing deals in 2010......Page 1015
No ocean boiling please......Page 1022
How to bring a product to market, Part 2 — after product/market fit......Page 1024
Top 10 reasons why entrepreneurs hate lawyers......Page 1044
Bram Cohen: “Lawyers can’t tell you you can’t do something”......Page 1053
I’m speaking at The Future of Funding......Page 1056
A list of social startup lawyers......Page 1057
Get Venture Hacks on Facebook......Page 1060
How to raise money without lying to investors......Page 1063
Launch: Sponsor Posts — ads that rule......Page 1069
Comments of the week: Legal fees, financial projections, and fit......Page 1072
10 skills I look for before writing a check, Part 3: Detail Orientation, Competitiveness, Decisiveness......Page 1075
When to fire your co-founders......Page 1083
Most inspiring speech ever......Page 1093
February 2010......Page 1095
When you’re raising money, the competition isn’t the competition......Page 1096
Launch: AngelList, a curated list of angel investors......Page 1097
Launch: StartupList — a new way to reach angels......Page 1100
StartupList: Day 1 — Thank You......Page 1104
In a board room, somewhere in Silicon Valley…......Page 1107
A brief history of your investors (and their investors)......Page 1108
“He has no clue whether it will be another Google, yet he has to make promises that only hucksters can make.”......Page 1117
My experiments in lean pricing......Page 1119
How to optimize web apps with KISSmetrics......Page 1127
How to not over-optimize your Series A term sheet......Page 1144
StartupList: The first startup gets funded......Page 1152
March 2010......Page 1157
[Startup Digest]: “The best startup events in 27 cities”......Page 1158
More diligence and less capital coming for startups (and their investors)......Page 1161
It takes more than one intro to get a meeting......Page 1168
Give tweet a chance......Page 1171
Give tweet a chance......Page 1173
I’m speaking at SXSW + Holding a SXSW MEETUP......Page 1175
The only reason investors say ‘no’......Page 1177
Solvate is simple outsourcing for startups......Page 1179
How to schedule meetings with investors......Page 1181
Our most popular links......Page 1185
What happens at SXSW gets published right here......Page 1188
Which angels have taken meetings from AngelList?......Page 1192
What’s the vision?......Page 1202
Where’s the demo?......Page 1204
April 2010......Page 1205
Postling gets funded with AngelList......Page 1206
“Being open early worked well for us”......Page 1210
Top heavy startups......Page 1212
Can I send my pitch to just some of the angels on AngelList?......Page 1213
Interview: How to close an angel round......Page 1215
“AngelList is the real deal”......Page 1226
Facebook acquires AngelList startup......Page 1230
Who has time for meetings?......Page 1233
How much traction do I need?......Page 1235
Startup Lessons Learned: I wish this conference was around five years ago......Page 1237
Our Inc. interview about angels......Page 1240
One way to start a startup......Page 1242
Two great talks from SLLConf......Page 1244
Where to find the best startup advice......Page 1246
May 2010......Page 1249
The Wilson bump......Page 1250
Hello vh.co......Page 1253
VCs in seed clothing: Chris Dixon, Mark Suster, and Naval Ravikant interviewed......Page 1254
NYC startup raises money with AngelList......Page 1290
If this is your first time raising money…......Page 1294
Naval on GigaOm TV......Page 1297
Steve Ballmer from the Microsoft Corporation with an iPad review......Page 1298
This week in Twitter......Page 1299
Venture Hacks TV......Page 1301
Why startups should train their people......Page 1304
Angel Boot Camp coming to Cambridge......Page 1306
John Doerr: The salesman for nerds......Page 1309
This fortnight in Twitter......Page 1312
June 2010......Page 1315
Resiliency......Page 1316
This Week in Venture Capital......Page 1317
This fortnight in Twitter......Page 1319
Ads for startups......Page 1321
The Startup Game......Page 1323
Local startup BlockChalk raises national money with AngelList......Page 1325
The WSJ reports on AngelList......Page 1330
A tale of 3 financings......Page 1333
July 2010......Page 1339
Where we office......Page 1340
This fortnight in Twitter......Page 1343
A conflict of interests......Page 1345
If you’ve run out of ideas, buy gold......Page 1348
Fred Wilson: “Angels love to share deals with each other”......Page 1350
Thumbtack raises money with AngelList......Page 1352
LearnBoost raises money with AngelList......Page 1355
How to raise money with no lead......Page 1359
August 2010......Page 1389
Tracking testimonials — the lazy way......Page 1390
7 angel investing tips in 7 minutes......Page 1392
Quora Marketing......Page 1395
Xconomy covers AngelList......Page 1397
How we’re recruiting a product designer for AngelList......Page 1399
AngelList Scouts......Page 1402